Worcester ends Sunday ban on sound trucks

The Police Department has revamped its policy for sound permits after consultations with the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which raised concerns with the old permit’s constitutionality.

Sound permits are granted for the use of a sound truck or equipment, and past permits wouldn’t be issued if their use would be on a Sunday or in the area from Lincoln Square to Federal Square.

The ACLU’s Worcester County chapter raised concerns about the permit’s constitutionality, particularly the restrictions on Sunday and the area from which they would be banned.

In a letter to Police Chief Gary J. Gemme, the ACLU said the recognition of the Christian Sabbath day could be a violation of the separation of religion and government.

“The Muslim holiday is Friday. The Jewish holiday is Saturday. The Christian holiday is Sunday. Other religions may have other days of the week which they consider holy,” the ACLU wrote in the letter.

The letter also argues that banning people from using sound equipment in the area from Lincoln Street to Federal Square could be seen as a prevention of grievances to city and federal government, as they have offices and representatives in the area that is at issue.

Chief Gemme asked the city solicitor to review the permit and recommend any changes that would address the ACLU’s concerns, and the ban on Sundays and in the area from Lincoln Square to Federal Square were removed.

The chief acknowledged the permit’s language could be seen as antiquated; he did not agree that it was unconstitutional, however. The chief said the permit’s language banning Sundays most likely dates back to the state’s “Blue Laws,” which originated to prohibit work on the Sabbath day during Colonial times but then evolved into an attempt to preserve tranquility on at least one day of the week.

“Nevertheless, in the interest of avoiding even the appearance that the rationale behind the permit’s issuance is based upon any religious consideration, we have revised the permit by deleting the reference to Sunday,” the chief said in a letter to the ACLU.

The letter also states that no one can explain exactly why the area from Lincoln Square to Federal Square was banned, but the chief assumes the language was written decades ago in an attempt to preserve a greater degree of civility in the city’s core business and government district.

He said he found no constitutional issues with the ban, but it would be deleted anyway.

Chief Gemme said yesterday that the ACLU’s concerns were first brought up in what he called one of the periodic meetings he hosts with the organization, and that he had no problems with reviewing the permit.

“We had been issuing the same permit for a number of years,” without paying much attention to it, he said.

Still, he agreed to review the language “in the spirit of being transparent and trying to be open with different organizations.”